The doubters were out in force following Game 2 against the Heat when Kevin Garnett was held to six points and eight rebounds in over 37 minutes in a loss that put Boston in a 2-0 hole. This came after a fairly pedestrian 16 points and six rebounds in 37 minutes in a Game 1 loss.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra knew it was just a matter of time before Garnett exploded. Saturday night was that time – and specifically the third quarter. KG hit seven-of-eight shots from the field in scoring 14 of his game-high 28 in a 97-81 Game 3 win over the Heat.

‘Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. That’s what it reminds me of,” Spoelstra beamed afterward. “He’s too proud of a player, talk about an MVP, one of the best players in this league, as soon as he stepped on the court as a rookie 14 years ago.”

Garnett added 18 rebounds to go with his 28 points on 13-of-20 shooting in 38 minutes.

‘I thought tonight I was just a lot more poised,” Garnett said. “Just as a unit, as a team we had a lot more energy. I felt like I’ve been nonexistent pretty much offensively in this series. Tonight was a little more focused on offense versus defense. I thought I did a good job of balancing out to be honest. I looked for my shot to be honest. They weren’t bringing a double team so I just took my opportunities and I was aggressive. That’s what I’ve got to be like for the rest of these series if not the whole playoffs.’

Still – to Spoelstra – he couldn’t help but think of Kareem when he saw KG Saturday night dismantle his team.

“For the revisionist out there, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when everyone threw dirt on him in the finals against Boston, he came out the next night and had 37 [points] and 15 [rebounds],” Spoelstra said of Kareem’s 1985 Game 2 performance that helped the Lakers beat the Celtics in six. For the record, Kareem had 30 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists, one steal and three blocks in a 109-102 win at Boston Garden.

“And while all this fuel was going on the last three days, I was cringing because you know this is a proud group, and you knew they would have a response which is fine. If we’re going to go where we want to go to, we have to outplay them when they are at their best. They’re going to be at their best, and we feel that our best game is good enough, and we were not at our best game tonight certainly, you have to give them credit.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Rajon Rondodislocated his left elbow in a collision with Dwayne Wade midway through the third quarter. He returned to start the fourth quarter of Game 3 Saturday night against the Heat after Celtics medical staff popped it back in place.

He was holding his left arm and had to be helped to the locker room by team medical staff with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter. Rondo appeared to fall awkwardly on his left elbow on a foul by Wade with 7:02 left in the quarter. Wade appeared to push Rondo to the floor after Rondo collected a loose ball rebound.

Moments later, Wade pushed Ray Allenunder the Celtics basket and the two came face-to-face before tempers cooled.

WALTHAM — Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t played since that fateful six-minute stint against the Pistons on April 3 at TD Garden.

When he left the floor, hobbling badly on his strained right calf, no one knew when ‘ or if ‘ the future Hall of Fame center would make his Celtics playoff debut.

Well, it appears O’Neal will indeed join the playoff party for the Celtics on Saturday night for Game 3 against Miami ‘ and not a minute too soon. After he was hardly missed in the Celtics’ four-game dispatch of the Knicks in the first round, his void has been huge in the second round as Miami has muscled its way to two straight wins.

Hello, Shaq. But Rivers is keeping his expectations in line and not getting his hopes anywhere near up as it pertains to O’Neal. Why? Because Shaq has played exactly five minutes, 29 seconds in one game dating back to Feb. 1. In that 5:29, O’Neal was certainly promising as an inside force, hitting all three shots from the field and grabbing a rebound and, most importantly, establishing an unmistakable inside presence for the Celtics.

But Rivers truly doesn’t know if he can expect that Saturday.

“I have no idea, I really don’t,” he said. “And I don’t say it to be funny, I just don’t, but I know he’s going to be big, I know that.”

Will Shaq’s mere presence in the paint be a deterrent for the Heat and a “force” for the Celtics?

“He’ll be big at the end of the day,” Rivers added. “We’ll find that out. I can’t give that answer.”

WALTHAM — The Celtics aren’t in the easiest spot right now. They’re banged up. They’re getting outworked and they’re down two games to a Miami Heat team that many consider the odds-on favorite right now to capture the NBA title.

But alas, not all hope is lost. Just ask Glen Davis, who Thursday at Celtics practice had a chance encounter with a Celtics legend of the past who told Davis to just hang in there. After all – as the Ringo Starr song goes – It Don’t Come Easy. Just like John Havlicek told Davis.

“The frustration, things not working out, you can get all messed up. But I was talking to Havlicek today, you know, ‘Havlicek Stole the Ball’ and I said which one of these [championship] banners were you 0-2, and he said the one that stood out to him was 1969. When they were down 0-2, they came back to win it in Game 7 against the Lakers.”

That was the series, of course, that featured the Don Nelson shot that bounced straight up after hitting the back of the rim and came down through the net at the old Los Angeles Arena to put the Celtics on top and lead them to their 11th title with Bill Russell in the organization. It also marked the only time the Celtics ever won a series after losing the first two games.

“He was just saying, ‘It’s going to take everything in you to fight and claw back and get back to get to 2-2 even but then it’s going to take something special to finish them off.'”

Can they do it against the Miami Heat? Davis said Thursday after practice that getting back to the mental and physical toughness that makes the Celtics a great team would be a good place to start.

“We didn’t play Celtics basketball,” Davis said. “Nobody played the way they were supposed to play. Ray had a good game the first game but we still didn’t pull it off. We all were supposed to play well but we didn’t. It’s easy to point the finger and blame and play the blame game as Kanye West would say but you’ve got to go get it. That’s all it is right now. X’s and O’s and you can coach as much as you want but that still ain’t going to make it happen.”

WALTHAM — After a lengthy film session and practice Thursday at their facility in Waltham, Celtics coach Doc Rivers pronounced everyone ready to play in Saturday’s Game 3 against the Heat at TD Garden.

Most notably, Shaquille O’Neal – according to Rivers – will be able to make his playoff debut for the Celtics after missing the first round and first two games of the Heat series with a sore right calf. Rivers said Paul Pierce also will be able to play, despite a sore Achilles that cropped up during the Game 2 loss Tuesday night in Miami. Pierce, however, was held out of Thursday’s practice as a precaution.

“Everybody’s good,” Rivers said. “Everybody is feeling pretty good. Shaq went through practice. We didn’t do anything today, we just watched film and walked over [some] stuff. Then, the second unit worked on their stuff but right now, we expect every single guy, including Shaq, to play in Game 3.

“Honestly, today, [Pierce] could’ve played in a real game but we were not going to let him practice today because his foot, Achilles, is bothering him but he would be fine.”

Rajon Rondo (back) and Ray Allen (bruised chest) took part in Thursday’s workout and are also expected to be ready. The Celtics will practice again on Friday before taking on the Heat Saturday night, trailing the best-of-7 Eastern Conference semifinal series, 2-0.

It’s becoming fairly obvious that if Carmelo Anthony doesn’t carry the Knicks, this series will be over in four hard-fought games.

The Knicks have two very banged up stars in Chauncey Billups and Amar’e Stoudemire, both of whom are very questionable for Friday’s Game 3 at Madison Square Garden as the Celtics lead the series, 2-0, and need just two more wins to advance to the Eastern Conference semis.

The thing is Anthony almost DID do it by himself in Game 2 Tuesday. He scored 42 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. But that wasn’t the first time a Knicks star put the team on his back and carried them.

All Knicks fans either remember – or have been reminded of – captain Willis Reed in Game 7 limping onto the court at Madison Square Garden, inspiring his team to a NBA title-clinching win over the Lakers in 1970.

But the more appropriate and obvious comparison is to No. 30 Bernard King.

The year was 1984. The Knicks were on the road at Joe Louis Arena for a decisive Game 5. They were underdogs and Isaiah Thomas was electrifying the crowd. But King didn’t flinch – even with the Detroit crowd going nuts.

He poured in 44 points to lead his team to an amazing 127-123 overtime win and a ticket to the Eastern Conference semis against the Celtics.

But what make Bernard King’s performance truly amazing was that it was the fourth straight game of at least 40 points, even with everyone in the world knowing he was getting the ball. Starting with back-to-back 46-point games in Games 2 and 3, King was the best player in the series. He followed that up with a mundane 41 points in Game 4 before lighting the board for 44 in Game 5. Take a trip down memory lane with Marv Albert and John Andraiese, both of whom are still broadcasting NBA games 27 years later.

In 1984, the Celtics were on a playoff run that ended with an electrifying win over the Lakers in Game 7 in the NBA finals. But Boston’s 15th NBA title nearly didn’t happen. King had 43 in New York’s Game 4 win at MSG and 44 more in Game 6 back in New York to force Game 7. The Celtics eventually survived the Knicks in seven fierce games. Sound familiar?

What was it like for Melo on Tuesday night, trying to do for his Knicks teammates what King did 27 years ago?

‘It was fun, for the most part,” Anthony said. “We were out there fighting man. My teammates stuck with me, I had confidence in them. It was just a battle. It came down to a couple of plays down the stretch, but for the most part throughout the whole game I think we played fantastic.

“Defensively we did, offensively I kind of had it going tonight. I made other guys better, they felt confident out there when they got the ball to make something happen. KG hit a tough shot over Jared, contested shot. For the most part we played great tonight. We can’t hang our heads over something like this. We’ve got to take this and build on it going back home.’

And Anthony repeated his mantra of Game 1 that the Celtics didn’t do anything special in winning the first two games. They just held serve.

‘There were some things when you look back you say ‘We could have done this, we could have done that, we could be up 2-0 if we did some things right,'” Anthony added. “For the most part, we are playing our [butts] off. We’re playing great. For some guys, this is their first time in the playoffs and for them to be stepping up to the plate like that, taking on the challenge against a championship team like the Celtics, we’re doing great. The Celtics didn’t do anything special, they won 2 games on their home court. Now it’s our turn to do the same thing.’

You score 14 points in the first quarter, 18 in the first half and 30 for the game. You’re the point guard and your team just won a playoff game to go up 2-0 in a best-of-7 series. You’d think you’d be pretty pleased.

‘We’re not happy with the win but obviously you’ll take any one you get in the playoffs,” Rondo said in his patented calm tone. “But we know we have a lot to improve on. There are so many areas.”

Like rebounding, where the Knicks beat the C’s, 53-37, including 20-9 on the offensive glass.

“They destroyed us on the glass,” he said. “Obviously, without Amar’e [Stoudemire], we had to help a lot, but we’ve got to crack back, and our guys have to do a better job of boxing out the bigs. As a team overall, we have to do a better job at rebounding the ball, that’s been our problem throughout the season. We escaped tonight, another one, but nevertheless, we got the win.’

But it wasn’t all bad. As a matter of fact in the first quarter, Rondo showed he was ready to take over the game, scoring 14 points, including 12 on lay-ups as the Celtics were getting out in transition at will against the Knicks thanks to Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

‘I just thought, Kevin and Paul gave me great outlet passes and I tried to attack the rim,’ Rondo said. ‘I think I tried to attack Game 1 but my layups were getting blocked and I didn’t make a couple. But tonight I made them, I stayed aggressive, I tried to expose them because I don’t think they did a great job getting back in transition. But they made an adjustment, in the second half I tried to go to my guys, Paul, Ray [Allen], and Kevin.’

The tempo was so fierce at one point of the first quarter, Rondo signaled to coach Doc Rivers that he needed a break. Who could blame him? He was running up and down the court at will thanks to the Knicks and their ole’ transition defense.

‘I just got tired in the first quarter, at like three minutes, I think it was like 3:59 actually, because like I said I was trying to push the pace and I got a little winded,” Rondo said.

But Rondo made a point of saying he didn’t tire in the second half when the game was on the line. Rondo wound up playing 42 minutes, just three less than captain Pierce.

“I told Doc to give me a rest. As soon as I was ready I came back in to start the second quarter, but after that my wind was fine. D-West came in and gave me a little breather off the ball. I’m comfortable playing the minutes I’m playing. It was just that first session was like a track meet.’